Stone Circle I will find any way to your wild heart

He found his heart fell at the way she approached him. Apprehensive, and submissive, more like a timid underling than a friend before an equal. Kaito's ears swivelled back, but just as quickly, he perked them forward, and lighted his feet to cover the final steps toward her.

"Arlette!" he greeted, with a cheerful grin, but stopped short of giving that friendly bump on the shoulder he might've offered, if she didn't seem so uncertain, and if he didn't feel the same, and if their circumstances were somehow so much different.

"Have you ever gone to the mountains before?" and he clarified, "Like, the far mountains that you can see when you're at the edge of Fox's Glade, and you stare out across the meadow, toward the forest on it's southern side?" He found himself both prepared and utterly at a loss on how to broach this question. Was it best to beat around a while? Ask straight up? Rip the bandaid off and deal with the pain at once? Probably that, but he gave pause, so he might gauge her response.